Church

CHURCH. The Greek word Ecclesia signifies Assembly: It is taken both for the place where the Assembly is held, and for the persons there assembled. We find it made use of to signify either a profane, or a sacred and religious Assembly. In the Books of the New Testament it generally stands for the Church of Christ, which is the Congregation of the Faithful; who under the conduct of lawful Ministers, make but one Body, whereof Jesus Christ is the Head. Particular Churches are likewise meant by it, as that of Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalonica and others.

Ibid. v. 8.In the Books of the Old Testament, Ecclesia is sometimes taken for the Society of the Jews; for example, Cur eduxisti Ecclesiam Numb. xx. 4.Domini in solitudinem? Why hast thou brought the Assembly, the Body, the multitude of God’s People into the Wilderness? And elsewhere: Eunuchs, Deut. xxiii. 1, 23, &c.Bastards, the Ammonites and Moabites shall not be admitted into the Church of God. They shall not be received into the Land; the Israelites shall neither marry with them, nor permit them to dwell among the People; or they shall not be received as Proselytes to profess the Religion of the Lord: This shews an extreme aversion and contempt for these People; they were looked upon as profane persons, with whom the Hebrews were to have no commerce, either in civil or religious affairs.

But as to the Edomites and Egyptians, Moses suffers them to enter into the church of the Lord after the third generation; that is to say, if an Egyptian or Edomite settle in the Land, and is willing to become there a sojourning Proselyte¹, his Children after the third generation, may marry Israelitish Women, and be let into the privileges of the Hebrews: Or otherwise, if an Hebrew marries an Edomite or Egyptian Woman, his Children cannot be esteemed true Israelites till the third Generation: They cannot marry an Israelitish Woman, and be admitted into the Temple, and publick employments.

The Church is likewise taken for a Communion in the Society and Prayers of God’s People; to be excluded from the Church, signifies Excommunication: For example, it is said, that he, who after he had touched a dead body, or been present at a funeral, should not purify himself with lustral water, wherein were cast the ashes of a red Heifer sacrificed for that purpose, should be cut off from among the congregation, Numb. xix. 20, 21.because he had defiled the Sanctuary: He should be excommunicated and shut out from the Congregation of Israel; he should be looked upon as a profane and uncircumcised person. The Rabbins understand this as meaning bodily death, a sudden, or violent death; or the death of the Soul, or of both Body and Soul, according to the grievousness of the crime, and the importance of the matter.

The Church is likewise used for the holy place, the Tabernacle, Temple, or Synagogue, where the People of the Lord assembled. The Elders of Israel performed their Prayers in the Church or Judith vi. 21. Psal. xxii. 23, 26.Synagogue of Bethulia. Intra Ecclesiam oraverunt. And the Psalmist, I will praise thee in the Church; I will publish thy praises in the church of the Saints; in a great Church; that is to say, in the Temple, where the Saints, the Israelites, and in a word, all the People assembled together.

By the Church is sometimes meant the society of the Faithful, who have preserved the true Religion committed to their care, from the beginning of the World to this day, and will preserve it to the consummation of Ages. The Succession of this Church hath been delivered down to us by Moses, from the beginning of the World unto his time; and from Moses to the coming of Jesus Christ, we have the sacred Writings of the Hebrews, and their Histories, which inform us of the different Revolutions that have happened in Religion among the Israelites. Adam instructed his Sons in the true Religion; but corruption of manners soon crept into his family: Two Churches were hereupon formed, one composed of the Children of God, descended from Seth, the other of the Children of men issuing from the Race of Cain. Both continued till the Deluge, after which Noah inspired his Sons with such sentiments of Religion, as he himself abounded with: But how long these were preserved by them, we cannot tell.

Moses is our Guide from Shem down to Abraham the Father of the Faithful; but he does not inform us, whether the true Religion was preserved by the Descendants of Ham and Japheth, nor how long it subsisted among them: But on one side we see, that Abraham’s Ancestors worshipped Idols in Chaldæa, and on the other we know, that Gen. xx. 3, 4, 5. כירים Gen. xii. 17, 18, &c. Kiraim,the fear of the Lord was not intirely banished out of Palestine and Egypt, when Abraham came thither: For the King of Gerar, as well as the King of Egypt, feared God, and had a great abhorrence of sin. The High Priest Mel-chisedech is a farther Proof Χυτρόποδες of what we have been saying. The same Gen. xiv. 18. כיור Gen. xviii. 23, 24, 25.Abraham imagined, that there were at least ten or twenty righteous persons in Sodom. From Abraham down to Jesus Christ we find a continued succession of the true Church among the Jews, and other descendants of this Patriarch; for it is very credible that the Sons of Abraham, by Hagar and Keturah, did likewise for some time preserve the depositum of the Faith, which they had received from their Father. Job, who was one of Esau’s Posterity, and his friends, knew the Lord. The Ammonites and Moabites, descended from Lot, did not probably fall immediately into that Idolatry wherein we see them plunged so early as in the time of Moses.

The Ishmaelites Sons of Hagar and Abraham, value themselves upon having adhered always to the worship of the true God, and extended the knowledge of him in Arabia, as Isaac did in Palestine. We do not credit them upon their bare word; for it is certain, that in the time of Mahomet, and long before, they had forsaken the true Faith; but it is impossible to shew exactly the particular period of their perversion. As to the Descendants of Isaac, we have indubitable proofs, that notwithstanding so many revolutions as happened in their Nation, the frequent transgressions of the Law by most of their Princes, and the almost continual Infidelities of the Israelites in general, God was at all times known among them, and reserved to himself a good number of true worshippers. And lastly, that we are to look for the true Church in Israel, till the formation of the Church of Christ.

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